Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
A bit of an elevated look at some of the color on what was a fantastic day. The leaves were golden, the sky blew and the mountains capped in white snow. My brother got a new drone and he wanted to go out flying and I have rarely used mine so it was a good opportunity to play around. Don’t worry, while the drone stuff is fun, it will never take the place of the types of pics you are used to seeing from me. 😉
The leaves in Rocky Mountain National Park were a bit of a hit and miss affair this past weekend. While there were spots of gold, they were often interspersed with some trees that hadn’t changed at all. That kept me from capturing the sweeping landscapes of fall foliage that I was hoping for however, closer looks were quite nice.
Such was the case with this little grove of trees that had changed. Looking straight up the trunk of this tree you can see the canopy of yellow and of course those gorgeous, blue Colorado skies.
Going back to September 24 of last year for this image for Throwback Thursday. By all indications, our dry summer is leading to an early change of the foliage this year and will likely make the viewing time short. That will complicate things and make my annual goal to capture the spectacle a bit difficult but hopefully luck will prevail.
This image was taken along Colorado’s famous Peak to Peak Highway south of Nederland. About an hour before this image was taken I was standing about 1,000 feet higher in altitude in fresh snow taking picture of wildlife. Here though it was just rain and fog. The fence helped to create interest in the scene as the dreary skies sure weren’t helping.
For some reason I didn’t do a very good job of sharing the fall foliage pics I captured a couple of months ago. Here is one to catch up a bit. Taken the third week of September on Guanella Pass in Colorado. It was rainy and overcast but that allowed for some soft, even light. As my son and I descended the pass, we stopped at this popular spot. I setup my tripod, put on a neutral density filter and slowed my shutter speed way down. This allowed the waters of the creek to blur and give them a smooth appearance.
Such a picture-perfect scene showcasing the change of seasons here in Colorado. Taken a few weeks ago when the fall foliage along the Front Range were approaching their peak. The morning started clear but then fog arrived and enveloped the landscape. This road was lined with birch and cottonwood trees and seemed to disappear into nothingness at the end of it. This is probably one of my favorite pics of the fall colors that I captured this year.
Taken last weekend, wind the day and night before had stripped a lot of the trees of many of their leaves. This tree however was holding on strong to its gold. The fall foliage and beautiful blue sky accented by the clouds looked pretty awesome. Image available here.
Toward the end of my photo drive last Sunday I swung through St Vrain State Park north of Denver. There was a dense stand of a couple dozen birch trees that was lit up in autumn gold that drew my attention. I spent a half hour photographing those trees and leaves as they were just absolutely gorgeous. Walking beneath them, bathed in the filtered light, was almost magical. Looking up toward the sun, the view was nothing but yellow.
At the end of my photo drive this past Sunday, I swung through St. Vrain State Park, Colorado. There was one particular spot that had a number of birch trees absolutely with absolutely gorgeous fall foliage. I hopped out and shot those trees from just about every angle possible with my wide angle lens. At one point, I glanced up and see the somewhat faint crescent moon through the canopy of leaves. It looked awesome against that deep blue Colorado sky so I went back to my truck and grabbed my other camera with my big zoom lens and returned to capture a bunch of images of our only natural satellite and the leaves.
A collection of two seasons in one in Colorado’s high country a couple of weeks ago. The leaves were still bright yellow but a wintry storm brought fog and a light coating of snow to altitudes over 10,000 feet.
It was a sign of the changing seasons and it seems appropriate to post today since lower elevations where I live are set to receive our first snowfall of the season tonight and tomorrow. Certainly I love the different wildlife and photo opportunities that winter brings to the Front Range but I am not so sure I am ready for the cold. 😉
One of my favorite perspectives when taking pictures of the fall foliage is to immerse myself in a bunch of aspen trees and point my camera straight up. Those golden leaves against our deep blue Colorado skies just look gorgeous. This year I only had limited success at that attempt due to either cloudy skies above or, in this case, a grove that had leaves already partially stripped by wind. Nevertheless, there was enough yellow left to make for a nice capture.
